Grandpa.

Just the other day Logan and Cody were looking at our Christmas tree and one of the ordaments had my name spelled wrong. It was spelled Janelle and as you should know it should be Jenelle. Cody noticed that it was spelled wrong- smart boy. But when we were talking about it, it made me think of Grandpa. I don't remember when it started- definitely grade school sometime, but he decided that my name should now be just "E". In my entire name I have a total of 6 E's in it. Grandpa thought that was a lot, then came the name "E". Grandpa was such a wonderful Grandpa. I loved watching him and Grandma and how much you can see that they love each other. He was a quiet but very ornery person! I loved that when ever I called them, they were always both on the phone.

My best friend and I spent a summer in Alaska hoping to make money working in the canaries in between school years. We were frustrated because none of the job opportunites were working out. I remember getting a letter just from Grandpa in the mail. It was a just a note in his own writing encouraging me not to give up. I loved that note and still have it. He was a great Grandpa and I feel blessed by having him for the time that we did.

He died Christmas night and Aunt Wendy was gracious enough to watch my kids while Jeff and I drove to Salem to be with him. Saturday morning while eating pancakes with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Wendy, Logan stopped and realized while she was here and her mom wasn't. So she asked Uncle Jeff, how is Great Grandpa? Uncle Jeff told her that he was in heaven now. After a moment, Logan said: "I guess he is looking down on us from heaven watching us eat pancakes then!" Got to love that!!

Our annual trek out to get the XMAS tree! This year we actually started a little ealier then normal. We got our tree the day after Thanksgiving! It has been lot's of fun getting ready for XMAS and the kids are so excited!! Here's a couple of pictures with our tree!! Merry Christmas!

Hunting 2009

We had a blast hunting this year! Yes- Terry was the only one who got a deer this year! He was so excited and very proud. Here are some pictures from our hunting trip. And yes, we did get 5 inches of snow! That was fun to camp in. Make sure you look at the small blue tarp in between the 2 big tents. That is my friend Stacey's, which this was her first time hunting, and she braved it all night long in that small tent with 5 inches of snow on top!!

Logan did get to shoot her first shotgun! We all had a little bit of target practice, but the kids spent most of there time looking for the shells in the snow. Kept them busy for hours!!

Cody started flag football this year. After a kind of rough start in the beginning, he now loves it!! It is so fun to watch him!

The kids found a preying mantis in the yard this week. They really wanted to keep it, but after looking up on the internet on what they eat: flies, grasshoppers, and moths, we decided to let it go. They named him spikey!! I did not need anymore animals at our house!!!

School Days!

I for one am so glad that school is back. Logan is a 3rd grader this year and Cody is a first grader. So yes they are both in school all day! Here are pictures from the first day of school!!

The puppies are almost 3 weeks old now!! Wow how time flies. They are now walking, eyes are open, and they pee and poop a lot!! But they are so cute and fun. Dakota is such a good mom. She really surprised me by how well she is taking care of her pups! Here are some pictures.